One aim of this article is to explore the connection between the Knobe effect and the epistemic side-effect effect (ESEE). Additionally, we report evidence about a further generalization regarding probability judgments. We demonstrate that all effects can be found within German material, using ‘absichtlich’ [intentionally], ‘wissen’ [know] and ‘wahrscheinlich’ [likely]. As the explanations discussed with regard to the Knobe effect do not suffice to explicate the ESEE, we survey whether the characteristic asymmetry in knowledge judgments is caused by a differing (...) perception of probabilities concerning the occurrence of the side-effects. Our findings show that a negative side-effect is judged more probable, even if the objective probabilities would suggest otherwise. We argue that the best explanation for these results is that the Knobe effect applies to the perception of probabilities as well: a probabilistic side-effect effect. (shrink)

Am 10. Dezember 2018 jahrte sich zum siebzigsten Mal die Verabschiedung der Menschenrechtserklarung der Vereinten Nationen. Diese Untersuchung vergleicht das in der Menschenrechtserklarung ausgedruckte Verstandnis von Wurde und Freiheit mit der christlichen und kantischen Konzeption dieser fundamentalen Werte. So wird deutlich, worin ihr innovativer Charakter besteht und wie sehr diese Erklarung die ersten beiden Artikel des Grundgesetzes der Bundesrepublik Deutschland beeinflusst hat. Zugleich soll der Vergleich der vier Konzeptionen von Wurde und Freiheit zeigen, weshalb beispielsweise in Konfliktfallen am Lebensanfang und (...) Lebensende, bei der Frage nach der Zulassigkeit von Todesstrafe und Folter, beim Ringen um Religions-, Meinungs- und Gewissensfreiheit, beim Umgang mit Diskriminierung wegen des Geschlechts oder der sexuellen Orientierung und bei der Frage nach einem angemessenen Asylrecht diese vier Konzeptionen nicht zu denselben Antworten kommen. Deshalb ist dieses Buch als ein Angebot zu verstehen, sich selbst mit diesen Konzeptionen von Wurde und Freiheit auseinanderzusetzen, ihre jeweiligen Voraussetzungen besser zu verstehen und die hier vertretene Interpretation von Wurde und Freiheit im Hinblick auf die benannten Konfliktfalle zu beurteilen. (shrink)

Nachfolgend veroffentlichen veröffentlichen wir in deutscher Ubersetzung Übersetzung zwei Berichte tiber über die die im im April April 1958 in Moskau abgehaltene Tagung zur Frage der 'Widersprtiche': 'Widersprüche': 'Konferencija po voprosam protivoreCij' von G. A. Volkov, erschienen in den 'Voprosy Filosofii', Moskau, 1958, 12, 163-173, und 'Konference 0 otazce rozponl rozpon1 ve svetle soudoM soudobe vedy a praxe' von N. V. Karabanov, erschienen im 'Filosoficky casopis', Prag, 1959, 1, 131-133; weiterhin den Originaltext der auf derselben Tagung gehaltenen Vortrage Vorträge von (...) E. Kolman, 'Material'naja suscnost' protivoreCija i ee otrazenie v myslenii', veröffentlicht veroffentlicht im 'Filosoficky casopis', Prag, 1959, 3, 381-391, und von A. A. Zinov'ev, '0 logiceskoj neprotirecivosti istinnych suZdenij ob izmenenijach i svjazach meZdu predmetami', veröffentlicht veroffentlicht in der polnischen Zeitschrift 'Studia Filosoficzne', 1959, 1, 124-133; und schliesslich einen kurzen Abschnitt des neuen offiziellen Lehrbuches des dialektischen und historischen Materialismus 'Osnovy marksistskoj filosofii', Moskau 1958, S. 256f., 259f. (shrink)

Recently, Gao et al. and Chappie et al. elucidated the crystal structures of the polytetrameric stalk domain of the dynamin‐like virus resistance protein, MxA, and of the G‐domain dimer of the large, membrane‐deforming GTPase, dynamin, respectively. Combined, they provide a hypothetical oligomeric structure for the complete dynamin protein. Here, it is discussed how the oligomers are expected to form and how they participate in dynamin mediated vesicle fission during the process of endocytosis. The proposed oligomeric structure is compared with the (...) novel mechanochemical model of dynamin function recently proposed by Bashkirov et al. and Pucadyil and Schmid. In conclusion, the new model of the dynamin oligomer has the potential to explain how short self‐limiting fissogenic dynamin assemblies are formed and how concerted GTP hydrolysis is achieved. The oligomerisation of two other dynamin superfamily proteins, the guanylate binding proteins (GBPs) and the immunity‐related GTPases (IRGs), is addressed briefly. (shrink)

This paper explores the notion that economic preferences were shaped by the joint action of genetic and cultural evolution. We review the evidence that preferences are partly innate, the output of genetic forces, and partly plastic, the output of cultural forces. A model of how genes and culture might jointly shape preferences is sketched.

This book takes an exciting perspective on language change, by explaining it in terms of Darwin's evolutionary theory. Looking at a number of developments in the history of sounds and words, Nikolaus Ritt shows how the constituents of language can be regarded as mental patterns, or 'memes', which copy themselves from one brain to another when communication and language acquisition take place. Memes are both stable in that they transmit faithfully from brain to brain, and active in that their (...) success at replicating depends upon their own properties. Ritt uses this controversial approach to challenge established models of linguistic competence, in which speakers acquire, use, and shape language. In Darwinian terms, language evolution is something that happens to, rather than through, speakers, and the interests of linguistic constituents matter more than those of their human 'hosts'. This book will stimulate debate among evolutionary biologists, cognitive scientists and linguists alike. (shrink)

Although he spoke rarely about them, J.M.Bochenski considered values important.However, as he was little if at all familiarwith metaethics as developed by analyticphilosophers, he was convinced that the bestdiscussion of values is to be found in thewritings of Max Scheler. The paper tries toshow that to defend Scheler's ideas on thesubject is difficult today. Indeed the authorsuggests that to talk about values is to beeasily seduced into a discussion ofpseudo-problems.

This article reevaluates the origins of the First Romano-Parthian War to better understand the different perspectives, policies, and objectives of the various Parthian and Roman leaders in the early and middle 50 s that helped forge the great rivalry that emerged between Parthia and Rome. This article breaks from the dominate Rome-centric, anti-Crassus traditions concerning the investigation of the origins of this conflict. Centuries of anti-Crassus propaganda have led most scholars to discount or overlook the critical agency of the Parthians (...) in the conflict and the serious implications of Gabinius’ actions in 56–55, while blaming Crassus for indefensible Roman aggression and greed. The propensity of modern scholarship to villainize and criticize Crassus follows ancient propaganda and stems in part from a lack of understanding of the geopolitical realities that Parthia and Rome faced in the middle 50 s. Further, this article challenges the misguided traditions that, first, describe the Parthians as feeble, passive, and duplicitous in their interactions with foreign powers and, second, that blame the incompetence or weakness of the Parthians’ enemies to explain their actions and successes. Indeed, the Parthians were important, active, and powerful agents in these events, something often obscured or overlooked because of the inherent Roman focus and bias of the Graeco-Roman literary tradition and modern scholarship. (shrink)

This paper discusses the view that subjectifications are primarily motivated by speakers’ need for self-expression. Approaching the issue from the perspective of animal signalling, we propose that semantic subjectifications are at least equally likely to reflect evaluations and attitudes read into utterances by listeners who attempt to read speakers’ minds. We compare speaker-based and listener-based theories with regard to their predictions, sketch ways in which they can be tested and report findings from first attempts at doing so. First, we report (...) evidence from diachronic corpora. Second, we describe a game-theoretic model that relates listener’s interest in speaker intentions to the average degree of speaker-honesty in a population. Third, we report preliminary results of an experiment in which we tested if listeners were more likely to interpret an utterance as indexing speaker subjectivity when they perceived speakers as more powerful. We conclude that the listener-based hypothesis of subjectification is solid enough to warrant further investigation. (shrink)

Charles Peirce claimed that the principal ingredient in assertion is an act of “taking responsibility” for the truth of what is asserted. Some people writing about the Commitment Theory of Assertion have at times construed Peirce’s claim as his espousal of that contemporary theory, but this, I argue, is mistaken. Peirce saw “taking responsibility” as the assumption, not of an obligation, but instead of a liability, a penalty to be incurred if one’s assertion turned out to be false. I then (...) consider how this point connects to other parts of Pierce’s analysis of assertion, specifically his claims that we assert to persuade, that assertion involves an intentional exhibition of our assumption of liability, and that this assumption of liability furnishes evidence for what is asserted. I conclude by sketching on Peirce’s behalf how the assumption of liability could constitute, and be intelligibly offered as, evidence for what is asserted. (shrink)

According to Eleonore Stump, Thomas Aquinas rejects a “popular” (roughly, penal substitutionary) account of the atonement. For Stump’s Aquinas, God does not require satisfaction or punishment for human sin, and the function of satisfaction is remedial, not juridical or penal. Naturally, then, Aquinas does not, on this reading, see Christ’s passion as having saving effect in virtue of Christ substitutionally bearing the punishment for human sin that divine justice requires. I argue that Stump is incorrect. For Aquinas, divine justice does (...) require satisfaction; satisfaction involves punishment ( poena) and has a penal function; and one way Christ’s death has saving effect is in virtue of his satisfying that requirement on people’s behalf. Christ saves by “paying our debt,” bearing in the place of humans the penalty or punishment required by divine justice. My argument implies that Aquinas’s account of satisfaction in the atonement significantly resembles key aspects of Stump’s “popular account”—and of the Penal Substitution Theory it represents. (shrink)

First English translation of Roger Bacon’s Letter to Pope Clement IV. which has been edited by F. A. Gasquet in 1897. It is Roger Bacon’s introductory letter to the Opus maius, which he sent to Pope Clement IV in 1267 together with his fundamental work, and which summarizes his project of reforming the sciences and society of his time as described in his Opus maius.

René Girard’s mimetic theory sees mimesis as the most central determinant of human behavior. According to him it also generated so much violence that it threatened the very existence of humanity. Yet, the same force also found a means to minimize and contain violence—through religion. Girard distinguishes between archaic and Biblical religion and finds criteria for this distinction and the anthropology and theology of a religion. This article tries to give an overview of Girard’s theory with special consideration to the (...) role of religion. (shrink)

Vaccine scarcity and availability distinguish two central ethics questions raised by the Covid-19 pandemic. First, in situations of scarcity, which groups of persons should receive priority? Second, in situations where safe and effective vaccines are available, what circumstances and reasons can support mandatory vaccination? Regarding the first question, normative approaches converge in prioritizing most-vulnerable groups. Though there is room for prudential judgement regarding which groups are most vulnerable, the human dignity principle is most relevant for prioritization consideration of both medical (...) and non-medical issues. The second question concerning mandates is distinct from considerations about persons’ individual moral duty to receive vaccines judged reasonably safe and critical for individual and public health. While there is consensus regarding the potential normative support for mandated vaccination, the paternalistic government intervention of vaccine mandates requires a high bar of demonstrated vaccine safety and public health risk. We discuss stronger and weaker forms of paternalism to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic from an “integrative” approach that integrates leading normative approaches. We argue against a population-wide compulsory vaccination and support prudential measures to 1) protect vulnerable groups; 2) focus upon incentivizing vaccine participation; 3) maintain maximum-possible individual freedoms, and 4) allow schools, organizations, and enterprises to implement vaccine requirements in local contexts. (shrink)